Are you fishing where the fish are? This may seem to be a question with an obvious answer, but I'm constantly amazed at how many business owners are looking for their target market in all the wrong places. Worse yet is the business owner whose target market is "everybody". Do you know how tough it is to market to everybody? The reality is that not everyone needs your product and service, nor is it a good match for every single person on this earth.

The first issue to resolve is determining who comprises your target market. Are they male or female? What age group? What industry? What socio-economic group? Until you narrow your focus and select a smaller niche market, much of your marketing effort will be in vain.

Once you've got a target market in mind, you need to know more about them. Here are the questions that I ask clients about their target market: Where do they hang out on- and off-line? What do they read? To what groups and associations (real and virtual, personal and professional) do they belong? How much money do they make? Can they easily afford your product or service?

There are some great research tools available online for you to research your target market. Here are 7 that I recommend:

1. Professional associations: American Society of Association Executives, http://www.asaenet.org, is a great place to start, as most of the executives of the reputable associations belong to this organization. To do your search, go the Gateway of Associations, currently found here: http://www.asaecenter.org/Directories/AssociationSearch.cfm?navItemNumber=16581 Once you're in the Gateway, you can look up associations by keyword or by location. Once you've found the appropriate association(s), check out the association website and see if you should belong, and determine if the group has a local chapter that might meet in your area. If your initial search in this directory leads you to a local chapter, you should be able to backtrack and find the website of the national office.

A second place to locate associations is Gale's Encyclopedia of Associations. This multi-volume encyclopedia is present in the reference section of all major libraries, and due to the expense, you will probably want to pay a visit to your local library to use this resource. Some libraries subscribe to GaleNet, the online database, http://www.galenet.com and can issue you a username and password so that you can use it as well.

A third option is to do an online search for "industry" (you fill in your target industry here) + "professional association". Using quotation marks will result in the best search.

2. Trade and consumer publications: Once you've found the appropriate association to which your target market belongs, each association will probably have a professional membership publication and/or newsletter. You might be able to subscribe to the publication without joining the association.

Gebbie Press (http://www.gebbieinc.com) publishes a media directory in which you can obtain a newspaper and trade and consumer magazine directory. Bacon's (http://www.bacons.com) also publishes a number of media directories, including Newspaper/Magazine Directory and Radio/TV/Cable Directory, among others. As with the Gale's Directory, you'll probably have to pay a visit to your local library to use this resource, as it's rather expensive to purchase.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next